Minecraft Block "Cake"

There are some fantastic ideas on the internet, and this "cake" is no exception. It was M's other favorite birthday cake idea, but not ideal for the pool party last weekend. What kid doesn't love frosted, sprinkle-covered brownies, crispy-rice treats, and Jello blocks?

Add to that the fun Happy Birthday sign that M found at the cake-decorating shop last week, and the fantastic (free printable) paper crafts from PixelPapercraft, and we had a winner! Ten rainbow candles topped off this fabulous creation!


It was very cool to find a girl "Steve" for the cake, and (of course) a cake block, and she loved the mini squid, TNT block, bookcase block, and mini pumpkin. And, perhaps her favorite, the crafting table block that cousin Sophia and Grammy assembled (although I did pull it apart for quick reassembly since they glued the white tabs on the outside of the block...)

All-in-all, a fun and easy cake. The paper crafts took the longest, and next time I'll make the fabulous Colophon chocolate cake for grass blocks instead of brownies. 

Coconut-free Santas

And, the white cotton candy has only two ingredients: Sugar and artificial flavor. Strawberry flavored. The kids are so excited. Personally, I prefer the coconut beard.

Thanksgiving: Place cards

Wordless Wednesday: Not Candy Corn

Bananas and Nuggets and Chocolate

I stumbled upon a list of "3-Ingredient Recipes" awhile ago and pinned this banana cookie recipe. It was surprisingly good, although I am certain the children would find them vile, and Joel was uninterested too. 

3-Ingredient Banana Nut Cookies

2 large, very ripe bananas

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans (the original recipe called for walnuts, but I didn't have any)

Mix, drop by rounded Tablespoons onto cookie sheet and bake at 350-degrees F for about 14 minutes. I makes exactly 12 cookies. 

These would be perfect as "breakfast" cookies. If only the kids would eat them. But, they abhor oatmeal, and Madeline doesn't like nuts anymore. Unless they are blended into the form of peanut butter. 

So, for dinner, over fries and homemade chicken nuggets.Not really a recipe, since I eyeballed a recipe on my phone, and then blatantly did my own thing. There were herbs in the crumb mix which would've make Erik fuss. And, since I've been intentionally making food that makes him practice dealing with things he doesn't like, I took in easy on him tonight. I just took chicken tenderloins from Costco, cut into bite-sized pieces, dipped in melted butter then shook them in a bag with panko crumbs seasoned with sea salt and smoked paprika. Baked at 400-degrees F for 20 minutes (I turned them after 10). They were a huge hit. Even with Madeline, who now claims to hate chicken (but will eat salad all day long). 

And, this double-chocolate banana bread from the Smitten Kitchen blog is divine. Really, really chocolaty and delicious. Decidedly more enticing to everyone else in the house than my "healthy cookies-like things" (Whatever.) 

But, really, make Deb's chocolate bread. You can't even taste the banana. 

 

April Fools Tea

The kids have this Autumn Spice tea that is quite orange, and they'd had a tea party with it the night before 4/1, so I got some orange Jello at the grocery for a little polymer-prank (they've been studying polymers and making goo/slime too). 

Easy "recipe" for making finger-Jello with only one small box. 

One 3-oz. box Jello (flavor to match your tea or juice)

2/3 cup boiling water

Mix well and pour into tea cups and small tea pot (or juice glasses and small pitcher). Refrigerate overnight, and serve to unsuspecting children in the morning. Trust me, they'll think it's hilarious.  

Wordless Wednesday: Candy Crush Pops

And, that's a wrap...

... final lunch of the school year! 

Avocado & cream cheese sammies on Dave's Killer Bread, fresh local strawberries, carrots with sesame-miso dressing, and Jungle Animal cookies... she loved it all.

Creative Lunches... For The Win!!

Back when M was in preschool, I packed her glorious bento-box lunches three days a week, filled with fun, funky, amazing things. Fast-forward a few years (filled with preschool lunches for brother too), and a full year of 1st- and 2nd-grade lunches (minus the three times she bought lunch), and I'm pretty tired of making lunch every single day. 

And, while sometimes I wish that the girl would just buy lunch, I've visited her cafeteria during lunch a few times this year and tried to eat a healthy, semi-appealing lunch from the lunch line and it's very challenging. So, I understand why she doesn't want to buy lunch. I wouldn't want to eat it either.

While I was away for a week in Hawaii earlier this year, M packed her own lunch every evening, for the next day, and she did gain a real appreciation for the lunches I send with her daily. She's also developed a taste for the simple - PB&J or bagel with cream cheese, fruit, a small treat, and veggies with ranch. Pretty easy. 

But, as we neared the final two weeks of school, and everything seemed to pile up (as it always does at the end), and I was so tired of lunch-packing, and we all just wanted summer, I decided to buck the system because this is the finish line! So many parents just seemed to be celebrating "giving up" on caring about school, and stopped packing lunches, volunteering, or making sure kiddos get homework done. Even one of the kids' teachers shared that she was "done" with the year, and it didn't matter anymore... everyone was doing it (or so it seemed, since so many were paying lip-service to it), and I just had to step away from the crowd and get away from the negativity. 

You don't peter out when you're about to cross the finish! That's a terrible lesson for kids. We're all excited for summer fun, but endurance is the name of the game when it comes to kiddos, life, and a healthy attitude. And, so I got really creative with lunches for the final two weeks of school to pump a little fun into the final miles... here are a few of M's favorites, and you know what? It totally worked - flipped all our attitudes around and we've had a fantastic final two weeks full of in-class fun, field-trip and field-day and party chaperoning, lots of reading and art-lesson teaching, Girl Scout fun, and Thank-You gift coordinating! Attitude makes a world of difference. 

Rainbow Lunch with M's favorites, including fresh pineapple and fresh English Peas. What? No protein you say? She bought white milk, and took cheese & crackers for her snack. 

Flat Stanley party lunch today... flat Stanley PB&J on Dave's Killer Bread, flat-sliced apple with cinnamon cream cheese, flat-sliced strawberries, Stanley cheddar slices, Big Cheezits, and Flat scottie-dog shortbread cookies. Fun!

M's faves lunch... salami, carrots & homemade ranch, roasted Yukon Golds and ketchup, Brussels cookies and fresh Bing Cherries.

And, another rainbow lunch with carrots, orange supremes, and canned pineapple.

Dirt Cake

So, the most fun part of this dirt cake was the root-beer flavored gummy worms from Oriental Trading. I've (amazingly) only made dirt cake once before in my life, and that was before I had kiddos.

This time I intended to make it for our Halloween dinner party, but didn't get to it, so made it the following evening.

Vanilla pudding, light Cool Whip, crushed chocolate Oreos and WhoNu? sandwich cookies (which are fantastic, by the way - I like them more than Oreos), all layered and served up with the worms!

Luckily, we did have some last-minute dinner guests to enjoy this with and they had two servings each. It was a hit and very easy to whip up.

Wicked Witch Treat Mix

So, instead of adding the cute witch hats to a batch of my Wicked Caramel Corn (which would be tasty), we went even easier (but very tasty) with a batch of air-popped popcorn (4 cups? 6 cups?), several cups (maybe 3-4 cups) Rice Chex cerals, 2 cups (or so) of pretzels rods, and about 1 cup of broken pecans mixed together then tossed with one 14-oz. bag of melted Wilton white candy melts, 1/8 cup of orange sprinkles and 1/8 cup of black & orange Halloween nonpareils. I really mostly eyeballed everything in my large rectangular roasting/sheet cake pan. That's how we do things around here. Thankfully, it worked out for us. 

We think the pretzel rods look like broomsticks, and the Chex a little like bristles. One child may have suggested that some wicked witches crashed their brooms - oh, the imaginations! Hmm... regardless, this is a tasty and cute treat mix with our witch hats tossed in bags for friends to enjoy!

A Touch of Magic!

Last year on Pinterest, there was this sweet holiday snack mix with Chex and M&M's and pretzels and some other items, including adorable Santa hats made from dipping Bugles in melted red candy melts, then white sprinkles on the bottom and a mini marshmallow on top. Totally adorable. It was on the Cookies & Cups blog, and I never ended up making it, but my lovely friend Heather gifted some to me. Maybe I'll make some next year — check it out — her photos are light-years more lovely than mine!

So earlier this week, when Erik requested Bugles at the store, I bought some and then remembered those adorable Santa hats, and thought of making witch hats by dipping Bugles in dark chocolate. When we got home, I found that we had green candy melts and butterscotch chips, so we melted both in the microwave, I filled small Ziploc bags with a little of each and piped circles onto parchment paper for the hat bottoms. Then we dipped the Bugles in the melted candy and popped them onto the (slightly hardened) circles.

The kids loved helping with these, and I think that they will be adorable mixed into a new concoction of my Wicked Caramel Corn with Chex and pretzels and nuts (and maybe some Halloween-colored M&M's). Cute and sweet, just like these two!

Wordy Wednesday: Cereal Storm

Our kids are not big breakfast eaters. Their dad isn't either, so they come by it honestly, but it is still a real struggle to get food in their bellies before school. I've even resorted to Carnation Instant Breakfast to mix with milk to cover Madeline many days of the week. They'll do a yogurt or banana and milk, and occasional smoothie too, or hard-boiled egg, And mini pancakes from the freezer work, when I have them on hand, but cereal is hit-or-miss for Erik, and Madeline just won't eat it. 

This morning, we had just a dabble of some Lucky Charms left from St. Patrick's Day, and some Fruity Pebbles (sugar-cereal treat that E likes sometimes), and so I mixed the Trader Joe's High Fiber O's, mini shredded wheat, the charms and the pebbles (less of the sugary ones) in a bowl and served it up as a "cereal storm!" 

He loved it and ate every bit! And, Madeline asked him if she could try a bite too... we could be on to something here... healthy cereal seasoned with sweet kid-cereal.  

Angry Birds for lunch...

My children adore Angry Birds; Joel got them hooked on the game. And, recently, while looking for back-to-school lunch ideas, I came across the following recipe for Angry Birds bagels (on Babble), that made the kids chuckle with delight.

My salami and bagels weren't close enough to the same size, so I had to alter the design. I also made some yellow birds with slices of cheddar and my round cookie cutter (carrots for noses on the yellow Angry Birds. The eyes on all the birds was Laughing Cow spreadable Swiss cheese (which I also used to stick things on, and to spread the mini-bagels with first).

This lunch-with-friends was a hit, and I think those grouchy birdies had a lot to do with it!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy 6th Miss M!!

Birthday Cake Fudge

Yes, you read that right. Birthday-cake Fudge. Fudge that looks and tastes like... birthday cake. Tasty and fun; which is just the sort of thing that we love around here. I found the recipe right here. Obviously, I used pink candy-coloring, rather than blue, and all the recipients thought this was fan-tabulous.
Thank you to Becky at Mrs. Bettie Rocker for the great idea and for posting the recipe! Here's the recipe to print:

Birthday Cake Fudge
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks margarine (yes, I did use margarine - which I'd not purchased in many years... but candy is fickle and so I stuck to the recipe for once!)
5 oz can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk
12 oz chopped white chocolate chips
7oz jar marshmallow creme
3 or 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (just the powdered MIX, not batter)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Blue (or red, pink, orange, yellow...) candy coloring (oil-based color, not regular food color)
Rainbow sprinkles

Line an 8 or 9 inch square pan with foil, leaving the ends hanging over the edges of the pan. Spray foil thoroughly with nonstick spray. Place the sugar, margarine, and evaporated milk in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly, and let boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

Add chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and cake mix, stirring until chocolate chips are melted. Add vanilla and mix well. Working quickly, pour about 1/3 of the fudge in a bowl and add a few drops of blue candy coloring, mixing and adding until you achieve the desired shade. Pour white fudge into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Spoon colored fudge over the top, spacing it out. Using a sharp knife, draw swirls through the blue and white to create a marbled effect. Sprinkle the top generously with rainbow sprinkles before the top sets up.

Let sit at room temperature until cool, then place in the refrigerator until firm.
Recipe via Confessions Of A Cookbook Queen

Pear-y Cute Bear Muffins

Fun little critter muffins, very appropriate since the class's Zoo field trip is coming up soon...
I made these muffins (from Parent's magazine) last night for Madeline's Kindergarten class's snack. Being me, I altered them slightly (pineapple juice rather than OJ, and I added about an 1/8 tsp. ground cardamom too). Even though the pear slice "ears" sunk down into the muffins, Miss M still thought they were dandy, "That's OK, Mom, they can still be bears, or even gophers or walruses or something."

M's teacher emailed me to tell me that the snack was a hit today, and sent me a direct quote from one of the students, "If I grow up and end up being a storekeeper I would definitely put these in stock!" Adorable. And, Madeline tells me that her friend Drew needs me to print the recipe for his mom.

They really are as tasty as they are cute. And, of course, now that I've made them once, I know how I'd do the ears next time... I also added the faces right out of the oven, and put them back in for a minute or so, then tapped the melty chocolate-chip nose to "set" the almond mouth on the muffin. None of the faces came off before snack time either!

Sous Chef Erik

When it comes to the kids helping in the kitchen, Erik is far and away the more enthusiastic helper. Madeline can be recruited, but Erik seeks out the sous-chef position on a regular basis. And, I say "You're welcome," to his future spouse, partner, and/or roommates. The boy knows what fondant and pesto are... and the difference between Miso and Phở , and he's four. This can (hopefully) only bode well for the future.

Here's the boy rocking some old-school English Muffin pizzas (that were a huge hit at our Dr. Seuss party this week)...
And, using gum paste to apply flowers to Sophia's castle birthday cake...

Amethyst luster dust? He approves!

Happy 6th Birthday to cousin Sophia! Erik loved pasty chef-ing it up with this fun creation. Especially the fondant. And, I was very pleasantly surprised by how easy and fun fondant was to work with too... easy to mold and shape, and much less messy to transport this cake on a 2-hr car ride when covered with sweet, smooth fondant rather than Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

iLove

I LOVE Family Fun magazine's crafts and ideas... so fun! We made a few of these iLove Valentine's for ♥-day! You just need conversation hearts (in boxes), Reese's mini-size peanut butter cups, paper, string, foil, glue/tape, scissors and their cut-out template... easy, fun and sweet!

Hey, Jelly Man!

Our fabulous buddy, Gavino turned 6 last Monday, and today we're celebrating with him and his family. His cake-request this year? Jelly Fish. And, so...

I started out by looking at ideas online, then showed three cakes to Madeline and asked what she though we should do. She wanted to combine two styles into what we have here (which was my idea too, although she didn't know that). And, of course, we added our own flair as well, with all the decor ideas. The kids had a blast helping decorate... (all that candy, fruit leather and licorice)

And, in the end, Madeline said that it needed "bubbles from the jelly fish swimming," so voila!

The cake is 9x13-inch vanilla bean, frosted with tinted vanilla buttercream. The "Mama" jelly is a slice of cream-filled chocolate roll (from the QFC bakery), and the baby jellies' bells are each an end-slice of a Twinkie! The white tentacles are vanilla-sugar-sprinkled pie dough strips, and the other tentacles are Nerds ropes, fruit leather, slices of red licorice (Madeline's idea), and frosting. I hit all the jellies with a little Wilton tinted spray (purple) at the end.